>Doug
>
>From the dusty corners of my mind, you draw forth memories of Fabian and JW!
>
>Fabian... what can I say?
>
>JW genuinely believed that FP was doomed and advocated a shift to dbase initially, then a general "watch out, MS is after you" principle when dBase did what it did. He gave up on us a good 5 years ago now as I recall though I had subsequent dealings with him during my "Java" incarnation.
>
>IMHO when it comes to "politics" and away from pure technical assistance to others, it helps to look at "who" is saying things and what their experience is *in a context that matters to us* before deciding how much notice they deserve. People sometimes carry a lot more "clout" than they deserve just because they are so loud. Such people, I notice, rarely provide technical assistance for a defined problem or answer pure technical questions.
>
>IMHO we also need to ask ourselves what we are after here. If all we want is technical support, who cares what people are saying apart from about our own problems.
>
>If we are after a sense of "community" and peer growth, a disruptive element is fairly intolerable.
>
>If our desire is to be a recognised expert in a technology area, we need to promote ourselves either by the quality of our work or by some other method that draws attention to us. "The only bad publicity is an obituary notice" seems to be a life motto for some with this goal, something we need to consider when we give such people what they want by responding.
>
>If we want to produce good apps as a real service to our clients, we need to look for people who have a proven track record "in the real world" and follow their lead. We should also listen to suggestions that we look at other tools- something that those of us who remember Fabian have probably done several times by now without having the suggestion rammed down our throats.
>
>If we want to be successful businesspeople we need to discover who is a compatible and realistic mentor who has achieved a level of success we would like (often amongst the quietest in a forum) and take their lead. To my knowledge there are at least four millionaires with UT logins.
>
>Regards
>
>JR

John,

I think that there are two issues:

1) Technical expertise
2) Demonstrated respect.

I do not post as many technical answers as I ought. I do not because I still struggle with a pretty healthy sense of technical incompetence. This is my personal struggle and stems from having been side swiped by life a few years back and not keeping up. I am working behind the scenes to change that, take full responsibility for it and really do not discuss it much except in cases like this.

Having said that, there is one area I feel extremely confident in and that is my sense of being able to articulate some of the other so-called unimportant issues like the notion on how we can continue to bring new folks into our community, help them out and encourage them to excellence.

That's actually the reason I get so griped at John for example. He is hugely talented but that is no substitute for good manners.

In the current case John could have simply provided an addendum to Craig's information and let it go at that. Rather, he posts an abrasive message which has led to all of this nonsense. *shrug*

We need both. I know my deficiencies.

Thank you for your good words.

Best,

DD